Education for War Needs

Report Outline
Changes in Peacetime Pattern of Education
Higher Education and National Needs
Secondary Schools and the War Effort

Changes in Peacetime Pattern of Education

The traditional insistence of the educator upon “rounded instruction of the whole man” is being forced to give way, in the United States as it has in other belligerent countries, to the narrower demands of a nation at war. Education, along with other segments of peacetime life, is being trimmed and fitted to serve the war effort. Notable changes have already taken place: further changes will be wrought as the war lengthens.

For the immediate future, educators foresee a reduced number of students, working in specialized fields, with periods of study limited to the time necessary to develop desired degrees of aptitude for specific tasks. Education, for most male students, will no longer be allowed to run on for the years normally required to obtain a diploma or an academic degree. Many colleges, and some high schools, have already instituted “accelerated programs,” designed to supply qualified men and women with the least possible delay for posts in the government service and places in war industry.

The rapid changes taking place in the peacetime pattern of education have raised difficult problems for students, teachers, and the schools. A step toward solution of one of these problems was taken by Congress at the end of June when it appropriated $5,000,000 for government loans to advanced students in technical and professional fields during the next twelve months.